I’ve taken Avelo Airlines for a vacation, and unfortunately, the outbound portion of the trip was four hours late in leaving. As a result, my family, with two young children, got to our resort at 2 a.m. Not a great first impression.
But the company’s behavior in the last months has been more troubling to me. It has a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to transport immigrants on its planes. As I watch the Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies taking shape, I’m deeply concerned that they are increasingly inhumane and antidemocratic. I object to Avelo’s taking part in furthering this ICE overreach. Federal courts found that the deportation of hundreds of immigrants to the infamous CECOT prison in El Salvador lacked due process. Watching images of masked ICE officers — who drive up to, for example, The Home Depot, jump out and begin throwing day laborers to the ground, bludgeoning them though they do not resist — is appalling. Does Avelo management really want to be associated with this deeply authoritarian national embarrassment?
We’re all pleased to have more flying options in Delaware. But I ask Avelo to remove itself from the deportation business.
Gov. Matt Meyer has expressed his support for Delawareans protesting at the Wilmington Airport and spoke publicly about backing a boycott of Avelo as the carrier for deportation flights. But he can use his position in the state to do more! Delaware provides tax breaks and subsidies to Avelo — and we need Gov. Meyer to stop our tax dollars from supporting Avelo’s immigration flights. Delaware should not renew the fuel tax break. Similar to Connecticut, Gov. Meyer can use his office’s Council on Development Finance and his position as co-chair of the board of directors of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership to end this tax break of well over $40,000 that the state gives to Avelo as long as it profits from the ICE contract.
Write to or call our governor to ask him to intervene!
Bruce Dalleo
Wilmington
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
